It’s probably not well known around campus how often external media sources seek information from university faculty and staff. Over the years, University Relations has amassed an impressive list of “experts” on campus that are available to speak to the press on various topics and specialties.
The list was kept nice and neat in an Excel spreadsheet but this meant University Relations served as a middleman, so to speak, when a media representative needed expertise. In 2010, the Creative Services team worked with University Relations to make the list of experts available on the web. We called it a baby step for it was just one web page with a list of names and basic contact information.
Yesterday, the baby reached maturity and is now an interactive, searchable database. There are multiple views – by expert name, topic and department – or a keyword can be entered for quick search results. Expert profiles now include additional information when applicable. Some of the new features include profile images, individual web page links, videos and links to news stories (internal and external) that feature our W&M experts.
Curious? Take a look:
~Tina Coleman